A new report developed by the National Audit Office (NAO) has warned that the Department for Education (DfE) has failed to create any concrete plans on how it will use the increase in apprenticeship numbers to deliver improvement in productivity, as well as its strategy on ‘influencing the mix’ of apprenticeships in a bid to deliver the most value.
The report found that employers and training providers who are involved in providing apprenticeships are in support of principles behind the newly updated standards, but encourage the need for more work to raise awareness of them; with the NAO acknowledging the new standards took longer to introduce than the Department had originally anticipated. Furthermore, employers involved in the standards development have warned about the personal time they have to invest away from work.
Head of the NAO, Sir Amyas Morse, said: “The DfE needs to chart and follow a course from having a lot of apprenticeships to having the right apprenticeships in order to help improve the UK’s productivity, and achieve value for money, in return for the costs of the programme.”
Access the full report here
